Going halfsies

Wow. There are some news outlets that are completely up in arms over the realization that the McCain/Palin campaign isn't necessarily being completely truthful. They seem to like starting with Palin's comment of "Thanks but no thanks on the Bridge to Nowhere", and move on from there. Of course, some sites, like the Huffington Post for example, are taking the time to collect these reports from other news organizations, so that they can be in one easy-to-find location. In the spirit of full disclosure, here's a little message for the news organizations out there.

Obama/Biden are doing it, too.

Sure, you're not seeing anywhere near as much of what the Democrats campaign is engaged in. For one thing, both Obama and Biden have been very willing to meet with the press to help spread their message. And sure, that message has changed over time, but at least they've come forward. The intense scrutiny directed on the McCain/Palin campaign may be coming from the fact that Palin has yet to appear before the media for questioning (although that will be remedied, theoretically, tomorrow), but it's also coming from a position that, honestly, a fair number of news companies have a very partisan leaning. We notice that FOXNews isn't talking about the half-truths of the McCain campaign. We also know that they have a strong GOP base, and don't want to disturb those waters, much like other news organizations have with the Democrats.

But, as we pointed out earlier, both campaigns are doing it. After all, that's exactly what politicians do. They phrase their words to appeal to the broadest base possible, and, well, if appealing to that base involves some creative wordplay, then so be it. Why this should be any more of a concern (or a story) when it's coming from one party as opposed to the other is beyond us.

Would we like our politicians to speak truthfully all of the time? Honestly, no. There are certain things that we really would rather not learn. In a time of campaigning, it would be nice if they would represent themselves a bit more honestly, but we don't expect that to actually come to pass. After all, if they have to start being truthful about themselves, then they might be forced to be truthful about their opponents.

And the last thing that this country seems to want is open and honest debate on the issues.